Something Peculiar

27

As soon as I reached the railing, Lisa floated up, coughing hoarsely. I gaped at her, too shocked to believed she was real. She drifted over the top of the railing then dropped heavily onto the balcony. Lying on her back, she coughed again, and I rushed to her side, kneeling next to her. I touched her face, checking to make sure she was real, and her skin felt soft and warm under my hands.

"That was quite the gamble," In-guk remarked from behind me, and I turned to look at him.

In-guk has lost his blazer, and his white shirt looked slightly burned and bloody. Other than that, he didn't look that bad as he took a step towards us.

"Nah, you always come through," Lisa said. And I realized that she Lisa had gone over the balcony, In-guk had used his power to catch her and lift her back up, setting her down safely.

I went back staring down at Lisa, unable to believe that she was alive and here with me again. My hand was on her chest, feeling her heart, I could feel it pounding. She placed her hand over mine, holding it gently, but she looked past me at In-guk.

"What's going on in there?" Lisa asked In-guk and nodded to the house.

"They're retreating." In-guk stood over us. "A lot of people were hurt, but my mom, Hyo-joo is working on them. My father broke a few ribs, but he'll live. Unfortunately, that's more than I can say for some of the Trylle."

"Did we lose a lot of people?" Lisa asked, her expression grim.

"I can't say that for sure, but we lost a few." In-guk grimaced. "But we could've avoided that completely if the Markis and Markisinna would learn to fight. They leave all of their protection in the hands of thr trackers, but if the royalty would just hetbtheir hands dirty, they could've . . ." He shook his head. "Nobody needed to die today."

Lisa pressed her lips together grimly, then looked at me.

"What happen? Are you hurt?" Her hand went to my side, where I bled all over my dress. I winced under her touch but shook my head.

"It's nothing. I'm fine."

"Have my mother look at it. She'll patch you both up," In-guk said. When I gave him a confused look, he went on, "Hyo-joo's a healer. She can touch you and fix you. That's her ability."

"Come on.' Lisa gave me a shaky smile and slowly sat up. She tried and act like she was perfectly fine, but she taken quite a beating and there was hesitation in her movements. In-guk helped her to her feet, then took my hand and pulled me up.

I wrapped my arm around Lisa's waist, and Lisa put her arm around my shoulders, reluctantly putting some of her weight on me. We walked carefully through the broken glass back into the house, and In-guk gave more details about the attack. Other than the trackers who had been guarding, most of the Trylle had played defenseless, myself included. The Vittra might not have as many abilities, but they had mastered physical combat much better than the Trylle. Thankfully. a few of the Trylle like In-guk and Hye-kyo were strong enough and smart enough to fight back. What they lacked in physical prowess, they made up for in overwhelming abilities. But In-guk was quick to point out that if all the Trylle had stood up and used what abilities they had-- no matter how weak -- or simply fought back with their fists, the Vittra would have hardly stood a chance. We should've won this without any deaths and hardly any injuries.

The Trylle royals had grown too complacent, to the point where they believed that defending themselves was beneath them. They'd become too focused on social class to realize that they needed to handle some things themselves, instead of leaving the trackers and mänks to do all the dirty work. The ballroom looked even worse than it had when we'd left it. Someone had lit lanterns around the edges of the room, so we could at least see better than before. Nayeon ran over when she saw me, and threw her arms around me. I hugged her back, feeling tremendous relief that she was alive. Despite a few scrapes and bruises, she looked okay. She then launched into an excited tale about how she had blown a few Vittra out of the ceiling. and I told her I was proud. I wanted to listen to her talk, but the destruction was too overwhelming.